Double life, Samaia of Ryochi
by Rachel Revdon
Summary: Ralf is a normal kid. But after meeting Naruto and Sakura at his girlfriend's house, he wants to know what's going on. Samaia drags him to Naruto's world. Here they've to face several enemies. Is Ralf strong enough to handle this physically and mentally?
1. Introduction

**CHAPTER 1.  
LET ME INTRODUCE.**

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**Hello, my ****name is Ralf and** **I'm just an ordinary, 17 year old, high school student in the States.** I've got a great family, some good friends and a sweet girlfriend, Samaia. Now you'll probably think: 'so what? You're just a normal kid, why bother us with this crap?' Well trust me, for some times now, my life has been far from ordinary. I'm not a normal kid anymore. Curious about what happened? I'll tell ya. But first, I have to explain some things.

* * *

**First, to start off: my family**. I've got two parents, still happily married after 23 years now, an older sister -Marie, she's 21 and studies to become a lawyer- and at last but not least you've got my cute little sister Anna, she's 10 and she's really looking up to my Mum. My mum is a prosecutor with great social standing. She's fearsome in court and well known for that, but she's always sweet and protective at home. She takes good care of us and can cook as the best. My dad is a well-known writer of crime novels and also a good detective himself. As you can see, my entire family works for the law. My mum wants me to follow their path one day and become a judge -imagine this: family reunion in court, with mum prosecutor, daughter defence, father detective and son Judge. Sounds just great! (–_–)" –

I, however, never felt much for working for the law. I want to become a famous writer of fiction stories or do something in the movie industry. My parents, and especially my mum, don't like that at all, but I always had the full support of my friends in this.

* * *

**Well**** that's about that for my family.** Let's move on to my friends, because that's a whole different story, which needs a lot of explaining. At first, you've got Jared, the clown and asshole of the school. He has a nose and a gift for getting his ass in trouble, no real problems, like stuff with the police, -I would be dead if that happened. Same goes for him by the way- but just trouble for his pranks and jokes all around the school. But I've known the clown all my life -our mums are best friends, and his mum is also a prosecutor- so he's really a good friend. But a real asshole sometimes, that's why he hasn't got a girlfriend.

Second you have Jacob. The smartass of our group. He often helps Jared to pull of one of his pranks, without him knowing it. That means that Jacob doesn't know that he is helping Jared. (-_-) But still, almost every girl in school has the hots for him. He, however, doesn't seem to notice it at all. He doesn't show any interest whatsoever in the opposite sex. Did I already mention that he's the most clueless guy I've ever seen? He'll never get a girlfriend.

And we have Edward, the more player type of guy. The best-at-sports-sucks-at-school type. He's dating Natalie Meyer. (No, she's no cheerleader.) Natalie is a cute and very shy girl. She and Edward liked each other ever since grade school and they form what you can call, the perfect couple. But about Edward, he hates bullies, so he comes around for all of their victims. That's partly the reason why there are hardly any bullies around at our school. But Edward has a dark side too. He just loves the pranks of Jared and he often helps him with the preparations, 'to make sure no one suffers from them' he says.

And then we have 'the rest'. That's how the four of us call the boys and girl who just tangle along with us. I don't know most of their names but they seem to know us very well. I guess that's the prize we have to pay for being popular.

* * *

**And last but far from the least is Samaia, my sweet girlfriend.** She was born in Japan, but her parents are both from Europe. She a sweet, however sharp girl with beautiful blue eyes, a bit of a tanned skin and long white hair. They moved to the States around two or three years ago, for Samaia's health. Samaia has a strange illness. I don't know the details, but it causes her hair to be white, instead of blond, not grey, like the hair of old people, but hair as white as fresh, pure snow, and that she's from school a lot because of it. That's what started this entire mess by the way… Wait, I'd better explain that. Geez this is annoying. It all started about 3 months ago…

* * *

_**DOUBLE LIFE,**_

**Samaia of Ryochi.**

**

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**

_**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, EVERYTHING U THINK THAT SUCKS ABOUT THIS INTRO HAS A REASON AND PURPOSE IN THE REST OF THE STORY.  
**__**SO PLEASE WAIT PATIENCE.**_


	2. How one silly thing started this mess

**"Samaia's**** sick again?"** Edward asks surpised when I tell him the news. "Geez, pal. That doc of hers must be seeing her more than you do these days. Make sure he doesn't run off with her. Hahaha… Au!" Jared gets a whack on the back of his head from Edward. "Drop it, Jared. This is really hard for Ralf. He hasn't seen Samaia for three weeks now. He must really miss her. I can't imagine how he survives without her, I couldn't do it, anyway," Edward says and he gives Natalie a kiss on top of her head, which causes his girlfriend to blush before she replies. "I think you'll do fine without me, Edward. You'll have great friends."

"But guys, really, I'm fine. I was planning to drop by at her place this afternoon. Whether she would be sick or not," I say, trying to change the subject. I don't feel like talking about this now. It is true that I haven't seen my girl in quite some time, but I trust her, and that doctor of her is really too old for her… why am I thinking like this?

"Tight plan, pal. Tell that chick the truth!" Jared says cocky and I whack Jared on his head as a reply. "Grow up, Jared," I say calmly and everyone laughs, my friends and 'the others' all the same.

* * *

**Chapter 2.**  
**How one silly thing started this mess.**

* * *

**'This**** is the place.** Geez, I should have visited her a long time ago. I hope she will forgive me.' I walk towards the front door of Samaia's home, and ring the bell once. No response, which is strange. Normally Angela would have opened the door for me by now.  
Oh, that reminds me, you don't know who Angela is, of course. Angela is the Lambrouch' household maid. –You ask: A MAID! O.o - Yes, a maid. Samaia's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lambrouch, are pretty rich and when I say pretty I mean pretty damned rich.

And then, just when I'm about to ring the bell again, someone opens the front door for me. A blond boy, wearing an orange with black tracksuit comes running out of the house and bumps right into me. He manages to maintain his balance while I fall down on the ground. "Whoa. Sorry, buddy," he says, "hadn't seen you standing there. Are you a friend of Samaia's?" The boy holds out his hand to help me get back on my two feet. I gladly accept his offer and while I'm dusting down my clothes I glace at him to get an idea of who I'm dealing with. He's around the same age I am, same length and he has six scars on his face, on each cheek three. They look just like the whiskers of a cat.

"Naruto! Where are you?" someone from within the giant villa screams. A girl with half long pink hair steps outside the house. "Oh. Hey Sakura. I just bumped into someone. Sorry," the blond boy answers. "What, a friend of Samaia's?" the pink haired girl asks. They ignore me completely which gives me a chance to give this all a quick thought.

"I think so. He hasn't said a word yet," the blond boy, apparently named Naruto, tells the girl. "Well, anyway. We should get going. We brought Samaia home, just like we had to. Kakashi-sensei will wonder where we are," the pink haired girl says and she walks away from the house. "Alright, later buddy," Naruto says to me and he follows the girl "Hey! Wait! WAIT!" I scream, but they don't respond to my commands.

'Who where those guys?' I think and a sudden chill runs down my spine. ' Oh crap! SAMAIA!' I run inside the house, up the stairs and straight to Samaia's bedroom. "Samaia!"

"Ralf?" I run straight into my girlfriend and we both fall, me on top of her. "Oempf… Samaia I…" I can't continue talking when I see what Samaia, who is lying underneath me, is wearing. A top and a tracksuit, not something you normally wear when you're sick. "What's going on? I thought you were sick," I say.

"Ralf, get off of me!" she demands without giving me an answers, but she won't get away with this that easily. "No, you will first answer my question! Who were those people just now and what were they talking about? And why the hell aren't you sick in bed?" I say, my voice is sounding angry and I can't control it at all. "Those people were Sakura and Naruto, two friends of mine from Japan. And why would you care?" she asks almost as angry as I, only her anger is much bigger. I suddenly hear footsteps approaching us. "What is going on here?" says the familiar voice of Samaia's mother. "Oh, hey Mrs. Lambrouch," I say with a respectful tone, at least I think it is respectful.

'Oh great, just what I needed.' Samaia's mother enters the room of her daughter to find us in this position. "Mum!" Samaia says surprised when she sees her mother. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Samaia, I just don't like her mother. That bitch hates my guts anyway. Now picture this situation through her eyes: the boy she doesn't like, but still is her daughter's boyfriend, on top of her sick and weak daughter. What would your first reaction be? … exactly!

* * *

**We're all sitting around the kitchen table. **Samaia and her mother on one side and I, alone, on the other side, with only an awkward silence between us. Although, silence might be the wrong word. There is silence between me and Samaia, yes, but Samaia's mother, on the other hand, has been lecturing and scolding me for several minutes now, not that I heard much of her babbling. I just wish the lady shuts up and leaves me and Samaia alone, so I can talk to my girlfriend, 'cause this won't solve anything at all. "Ralf are you listening to me?" says Mrs. Lambrouch strict, like she's talking to a bad behaving 5 year old. My hands form fists and I grind my teeth. I can't take this much longer. "Ralf?"

I plant my hands firmly on the table and stand up from my seat. "Mrs. Lambrouch. I might not be the perfect boyfriend, nor the perfect future son-in-law, but I still AM Samaia's boyfriend, whether you like it or not! I know I made some mistakes in the past…

_*Did I already mention to you that I'm a bit perverse? No? Well, Samaia's mom knows. She once caught us half naked in Samaia's room. We were half naked because I, kind of, undressed her. She let me do it, but still…*_

and I know I can't change what I've done, but for now all I want to do is talk to Samaia, alone." I put much emphasis on the last word so that the bitch understands it. Samaia's mum looks surprised at me, not knowing what to do or to say. "Samaia," I say slowly and with a calmed down voice, Samaia response by looking straight at me now. "Tell me, honestly. Who were those people? How do you know them? What are they to you?" I ask quietly. Samaia's mom finds her tongue again and starts her scolding again. "How dare you ask those questions to my daughter? Samaia has been sick in bed for weeks and some friends came to visit her. Unlike you, they DO care about my daughter!" she says but I ignore her and look with a serious look on my face at Samaia.

"That's not the truth, right?" I say calm and its like Samaia flinches a bit. "I know it's not true, because I heard them talk. They said that they had brought you home safely, so they should head back to their sensei, whatever that means. You haven't been sick in bed for these past three weeks, you were with them. Isn't that right?"I say, pointing out the facts that she can't escape. Samaia tries to escape my gaze by looking away and she doesn't say anything. Even Mrs. Lambrouch has nothing to say anymore. I'm doing good today. I made the bitch speechless twice in less than 15 minutes. "Samaia…" I say the word slowly and calm, while I sit down again, "please tell me the truth." She looks up, straight into my eyes.

"I…I can't… I'm so sorry, Ralf…but I can't," she stammers. I sigh disappointed. "Very well then. That's all the answer I need for now," I say, I stand up and throw my jacket over my shoulder. "Goodbye Mrs. Lambrouch. Goodbye Samaia," I say with my back towards them and I walk away from the two ladies. I suddenly think of something and stop in the doorway. I say her name, "Samaia?" without looking over my shoulder to see her.

"Yes?" she says, her voice is unsteady and I'm sure that she's trembling. I don't have to turn around to know that she's almost crying, I just know it. "It's over," I only say with a neutral voice and walk on. I can hear Samaia standing up from her chair, calling out my name, "Ralf!" probably in tears now. "Samaia, stop!"

I assume her mother is trying to stop her from following me. "Don't leave me!" Samaia yells almost hysterically. I'm expecting a hug from behind from her any moment now, that is just how she is, but the hug doesn't come. I guess her mother really did restrain her. I've hurt her, something I promised myself I would never do, I know that. I'm an asshole, I know that as well. But I can't stay with someone if I don't know whether or not I can trust that person. I walk out of the villa, into the free world. I can still hear Samaia scream my name, begging me not to leave her. I just pretend I don't hear her. I'm trying to get things straight in my head. One silly argument and it was over. Something, I thought, was only possible in movies. Everyone always called us a perfect couple. A couple that would last forever. They were wrong! I can feel something rolling from my eye, over my cheek. I wipe it away with my finger and look at it. Tears? I grin while I look at the small drop of salt water on my finger. I start to laugh with frustration. I'm such an idiot. Crying… over her? I'm starting to get weak.

So, now you've seen a bit of the real me. A stubborn, stupid pervert with a too big ego. I'm not perfect, I'm far from perfect! But I'm free again. Free…and lonely.


	3. I will show you

**_I still hate myself for leaving Samaia like that._**_ She didn't deserve it to be treated like that by me. Nowadays I laugh with her when we think back at it. However, I still feel sorry and I always give her a bit more affection, or a gift, after we discussed it. She doesn't seem to notice, or she just ignores it. Oh, for your information, yes, we're together again. How? Well, that's where my story gets interesting. But to explain that part, we'll have to go back to my school, a few days after we broke up. Or actually, I broke up with her…_

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**CHAPTER 3.  
I WILL SHOW YOU.**

* * *

**I start up my cell phone and see that I have 10 unread text messages and 15 missed calls.** Those missed calls are from Samaia, just as 8 of the text messages, the other two are from my voicemail, Samaia has probably left me two voicemail messages. I remove them all and put my cell phone back in my pocket, making sure that only the vibration function is working and not the sound function. I don't want to lose my cell phone here at school.

"Ralf!" Jared and the others have noticed me walking through the schoolyard and they are now waving and calling out for me. I run to join them, forcing myself to smile and look happy. "Hey you guys, what's up?" I ask with a fake smile and fake happiness.

"We heard it about Samaia and you, pal. Are you alright?" Edward asks. I want to answer him to tell him that I'm alright, but right on that moment very moment walks Samaia, with a couple of friends, past us. She's talking and laughing with her friends but our eyes meet for a mere moment. She may be laughing but I can see that her eyes stand sad. She must be pretending, just like me. NO! I'm not pretending, I'm totally over her.

"…Ralf, are you listening?" Edward asks. I look away from Samaia's sad eyes and look straight at Edward. "Huh? Yeah, I'm listening and trust me, I'm alright. I'm over her," I say and smile as happy and real as I can. My friends all look at me with an expression of unbelief of their faces. "Oh come on you guys! I'm fine, really! Trust me, freedom feels good," I say to defend myself.

"Alright then," says Edward with a doubtful voice. "Welcome back into the free world, pal!" Jared says while he puts his arms around my shoulders, in a friendly way of course. "We're two lonely wolves, you and I. And boy, doesn't it feel great?" he asks and he howls as a wolf. I laugh ad join my friend. Our howl ends in a laugh. "Alright you wolves, we've got to get going. School's starting in a few minutes," says Jacob laughing.

* * *

**I open ****my locker to get my books for the first period.** The first thing I see when I open the door, is a picture of Samaia. I should remove it, our fight was three days ago, but I hadn't had any time to do so, because our fight was on Friday, so this is our first school day after. It's only natural that it's still in here. I mean, it can't just grow a pair of legs and walk away, so… ah whatever. I rip the picture from the door of my locker and look at it. I can feel a strange flash of pain through my body. Why does this silly girl sill make me feel this? There're loads of cute girls on this stupid school of ours, so why does this single girl make me crazy?

I take my books and close my lock while I sigh. I shouldn't care, I know I shouldn't. Damn! "Ralf, math class is starting!" Jacob screams through the hallway. "Coming!" I yell back while I close my locker. I run towards my friend, dropping the picture in the trashcan I come across.

* * *

"**What's ****wrong, Sakura?** You seem so restless," Naruto says while he looks at his comrade, "did something go wrong with Sasuke?"

"No, Sasuke is fine. His surgery went just fine. We've got most of poison from Orochimaru's cursed seal out of his system. He'll be fine," Sakura answers while she removes the special clothing she had been wearing over her normal clothes during Sasuke's surgery.

"Ah, that's good. But what is bothering you then?" Naruto asks. The two teammates are walking through the halls of the Konoha hospital. "Well, remember the last time we brought Samaia home and that you bumped into that strange boy?" Sakura asks.

"Uhm… yes, what about it?" Naruto asks, he faintly remembers the incident and he never gave it too much thought. He had almost forgotten entirely about it. But now that Sakura brings it up again, the memories of that time float back to his mind. The mission, the collapsing of his friend and the rush towards the hospital to save him. "I just wondered who that was and what happened between him and Samaia after we left. Samaia sounded pretty upset about something when I talked to her on the phone, yesterday," Sakura answers.

"I don't know, maybe they had a fight," Naruto says, guessing what might have gone wrong. Sakura arches an eyebrow. "You know Samaia. She's not the type of person who stays upset about a simple fight for so long. Maybe something even worse than a fight happened. What do you think?" Sakura asks. "Uhmm… Sakura, you realize you're asking this to a boy, right?" says Naruto on a dry tone.

"Oh! You're right. Sorry," says Sakura laughing. They stop before the door of the intensive care. "Here it is," Sakura announces. Naruto sighs nervously. Shall Sasuke remember him? Sakura told him that the poison, which was activated when they killed Orochimaru, had affected a part of his brain where his memories lay. Sakura also told him that she didn't know how much Sasuke had forgotten due to the poison. "You ready?" Sakura asks with her hand on the doorknob. Naruto nods. "Let's do it." Sakura opens the door and they walk into their old friend's room.

* * *

"**Hello, ****Sakura Haruno here,"** Sakura says when she picks up her cell phone. "_Sakura? It's me, Samaia," _the person on the other end of the line answers.

"Samaia. What a nice surprise. How are you doing?" Sakura asks, surprised to get a call from her friend from the States.

_"Can we talk?" _asks the voice of the phone, not responding to Sakura's question.

"Sure. What's wrong? You sound exhausted."

_*Sigh* "How…how's Uchiha doing?"_

"Sasuke is fine. We managed to get most of the poison out of his system. His brain wasn't nearly as damaged as we thought. He remembered Naruto and me when we visited him two days ago."

_"And what about his other memories?"_

"We think that he completely forgot everything about his time with Orochimaru. However, there are some signs that he still has the knowledge of the techniques he learned. Why?"

"_And the festival? Will he be able to participate?"_

"Well, about the festival. Tsunade-sama has let it been postponed. She wants to wait until Sasuke is able to come, you know, as a sort of 'Welcome-home' party. Samaia what is…" But Samaia cuts Sakura off by asking something before the Sakura can finish her question. _"When will the festival be held then?"_

"Uhm… let me see. From the looks of it now, I would say… in two weeks."

_"Okay. Listen, I need to talk to the Fifth. Can you give me her number?"_

"Yeah, sure. Let me see. 666-967938429 (this is a fake phone number, at least I think it is, so please don't try it). Samaia are you really alright?" The voice on the other side of the line stays quiet. "Samaia?" Then Sakura hears sobbing on the other side. "Samaia? What's wrong? What the hell happened?"

_"Could you… *Sniff* could you come over? I *sniff*…"_

"Okay I understand. Give me 30 minutes and I'll be there. Shall I take Hinata and Ihno with me?"

_"Please…"_

"Okay, I'll see you in 30 minutes."

_"30 minutes."_

"Later Samaia."

_"Okay."_

* * *

"**Sakura? **Hinata? Ihno? What's wrong girls?" Mrs. Lambrouch asks when she opens the frontdoor and sees the three ninja-girls at the door. "Hello Mrs. Lambrouch. We're here for Samaia. She called us and asked us to come over. She seemed pretty upset," Sakura explains.

"Oh, yes. Well, she is upset. Come on in girls. Samaia is upstairs in her room," says Mrs Lambrouch and she lets the girls in. "Thank you, ma'am. We know the way," Sakura says to thank the lady and they enter the villa. The girls walk straight to Samaia's room and knock there on the door. "Samaia, it's us. Can we come in?" Hinata says. There is no response at first and the girls tend to knock again as Samaia suddenly opens the door and flies around Sakura's neck.

"Sakura… Hinata… Ihno… I'm so happy you're all here. He… he left me! He left me!" says Samaia while she sobs and cries uncontrollable. The three ninja girls can see that their friend has been crying for hours and they put their arms around her to hug her. Samaia just keeps on crying in their arms.

* * *

**I throw my bag in a random corner of my room. **School sucked like hell today, again! I let myself fall on my bed and I now stare to the ceiling. "This suck," I say to myself. It has been more than 3 weeks now since I broke up with Samaia and I still can't get her out of my mind. Of course I almost have a new girlfriend, Kika, a cute 10th grader and a transfer student from NY-city. All it took me seduce her were a few smiles in her direction during class and a note to ask her on a date. She's almost mine. Samaia will regret what she did to me!

I take the picture frame with a picture of Samaia and me, from my night drawer next to my bed and look at it. I grin. Soon, this stupid old picture will be switched by a picture of me and my soon to be girlfriend. I stop grinning and look at the picture more carefully. We're both smiling in this picture, Samaia and I. I was pushing a kiss on her cheek and she was laughing. I sigh. I can feel something wet in the corner of one of my eyes. Tears? Again?

"Damn it!"

I throw the frame away and it smashes against the wall. The glass makes an awful noise when it breaks and falls on the ground. I don't need her! She needs me! She's not my world, I'm hers! So why…? Tears now roll freely over my face. So, why do I feel this miserable?

* * *

**A new ****day, a new attitude and a new chance to make our little cute transfer student mine.** I can feel a new energy floating through my veins and it feels great! I open my locker as always. I'm late and so, alone in the hallways. I don't care at all. Then, a voice behind my locker's door says my name. "Ralf?"

Samaia? I close my locker, ignoring her completely. "Can we talk?" she asks, her voice sounds steady and I know that she is looking straight at me, something she wasn't able to do for the past three weeks. Why is that? What has changed?

"Everything that had to be said is said, Samaia. I've got nothing more to say to you," I say and I want to walk away, I still haven't looked at her. "Wait!" she says firmly and commanding, she's not pleading anymore, something has really changed. I stop and turn around. Then I gasp loudly from what I see. The girl I see before me looks nothing like the Samaia I know or once knew. She wears a dress that starts just above her breasts and stops around her knees, with two cuts in the skirt, on either side one. Underneath it she wears tight pants that stop around her calves. The naked skin on her upper body is covered by a net t-shirt. Her arms, from the elbow to her middle fingers are covered by black gloves. The dress itself is black with giant red flowers on it, not frumpy but cool, and a piece of white cloth around her waist, held together by red leather belt with a small bag attached to it. Her hair is tied together in a single loose braid and on her forehead she wears a headband with a metal front.

"Samaia, what the…?" I can't even find the right words to say to her. She astonishes me. What in the world is going on?

"You wanted to know, right?" she says, unaffected by my staring.

"Well, yeah… but…"

"I can't explain it… but."

"But what? Samaia what's going on?" Samaia takes my hand in her own and pulls me after her. "Trust me, Ralf. Come with me and I'll show you."

"Show what?" I ask while I walk after her, away from the empty halls and the deserted school yard. "I will show you… the truth."


	4. To the other side

**CHAPTER 4.  
TO THE OTHER SIDE.**

* * *

"**A forest?** Samaia, you're joking, right?" I ask but Samaia just keeps on dragging me on and on. Ignoring me completely, like she has done for the pas 20 minutes now. "Come on, Samaia. School has started already, we should really head back now," I say, and I start to sound like I'm begging her. Not that she responses to that plea either. Geez, why ain't I fighting her? I can take her on, or am I that eager to know the truth? No! I'm not that pathetic… right?

I can see a strange wooden gate coming closer. Samaia told me about this kind of gates. They're called, Shinto gates, a Japanese entrance bow, which commonly stands in front of a shrine in Japan. Samaia once showed me pictures of her old home village and this type of gate was in a lot of those pictures, because Samaia used to live near the local shrine of the village. And right now, Samaia walks straight towards it. "Time to enter," she says and walks through the gate, still dragging me along. "Don't let go of my hand," is the last thing she says before she pulls me through.

"What?"

Samaia's warning turns out to be valuable one, because as soon as we walked under the gate, the world around us started to change. I find myself floating in some kind of cosmos place. "What THE…! WHERE THE HELL ARE WE!" I screamed with the right to, I was terrified.

"Relax, Ralf. We're almost there. Just keep your hold of me," Samaia says calm. She is rubbing her thumb back and forth over the back of my hand. Is she trying to calm me with that? Why is she so caring about me?

She suddenly pulls herself closer to me, laying her free arm on my back and burring her face in my chest. "I've missed you, Ralf," she whispers softly. I can barely hear her. What is this warmth I can feel in my chest? Why is my heart pounding like hell? Then, I suddenly realize it.

I still love her!

I've always done so! I'm such a doofus! I put my free arm around her, holding my hand on the spot where her hair start in her neck and pushing her head softly closer to me. I sniff her smell and kiss the top of her head.

"I've missed you too, Samaia. I'm sorry for what I did, but… I still love you." She looks surprised up to me, her eyes filled with tears of joy. "I love you too." I hold her a bit tighter to me. We stay like this until we reach the bright white light in the distance.

* * *

"**Ouch!" **

Branch.

"Autsj"

Another branch.

"AAAhh! Ouch!"

Ground. "Ooh, that hurts," I say, lying on my belly on the cold forest ground.

"HIAAA-A!" Samaia screams while she lands besides me, like a true ninja. "You always were kind of a cry-baby, Ralf," she says with a grin when she sees me laying on the ground like this, I must have look really pathetic. Let me explain this situation for a second. When we exited the strange cosmetic world, I lost Samaia and I found myself falling from the sky. I would have died if that tree hadn't been there to break my fall for a bit. So I fell on some branches, switching from falling on my back to falling on my belly until I finally fell on the ground. Painful? Yeah, well trust me. Even hell can't be worse than this. I know I'm over exaggerating, but still, it hurts.

"I'm sorry for the rough landing. We still need to work on the arrival through the gateway," Samaia says apologetically. "Neh, it's alright," I say while I crawl up, "so… … where are we? This isn't the forest near the school, is it?"

Samaia sighs deeply before she answers me. "You're right. This isn't the forest near the school. I don't know exactly where we are, but I do know we're not in America anymore, we're not even on the earth you know as 'Earth'," she says. It confuses me and I can only look at her with a stupid look on my face. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask when I'm finally able to produce a normal sentence again.

"We stepped through a portal of time and space. It's a little too complicated to explain now, but the bottom line is that we're not on earth anymore," Samaia explains again. "What, we're on Venus then?" I ask, trying to get the mood a little less tense with a joke.

"No… we're still on earth, but not on one like you know," Samaia answers, she probably didn't catch the joke. That's Samaia for you, she had always been slower with understanding jokes than others. I got used to it a long time ago, but it's still a bother every once in a while. "Aha. Well whatever. So where ARE we then? I mean, you should have a general idea of what this is then."

"Let's say, in a parallel world which I never gave a name," Samaia answers. I nod to tell her that I've understood her. But what now? "And now?" I ask

"Well, we're in the forest near the hidden leaf village, so let's go there."

"The hidden leaf what?"

"The hidden leaf village. It's official name is Konohagakure, or Konoha for short. The village is hidden in a forest in the Land of Fire, and is one of the 5 great ninja villages. You could say that it's my second home. Do I still make any sense?" Samaia explains.

"Ooooohhhh~ I feel a headache coming up. Wait… Second home?" I ask confused.

"Yes, Ralf… this…, this is my secret. I'm as healthy as can be, always have been. When you think that I'm sick at home, I'm actually on missions here. The two persons you met at my house were Sakura and Naruto. My teammates and friends. Ralf, I'm a Konoha ninja," says Samaia, while we start walking through the forest. Her words sound sad, apologizing. "I see…" I say, keeping my head down. What am I supposed to do? "Samaia?"

"Yes?"

"What…" I've made up my mind, it's now or never. I lift my head up and look to her, straight, not just a normal look but a penetrating stare. "What do I need to do to become a ninja here and to come along on you missions with you?" I ask.

"Why would you want that?" Samaia asks confused but still smiling at me. "Remember that time you were attacked on the street?" I ask her.

"Yes, it was soon after we started dating," she answers.

"Yes. I saved you from those jealous thugs, but what's more, I promised you something that day. Do you remember that? I promised that I would protect you, no matter what it took. I still want to live up to that promise."

"I know that, Ralf. Just be patience, okay? I never forgot about the promise you made me back then," she says. the look in her eyes and the smiles on her face were mysterious when she said that. "What do you mean?" I ask. This time, it's me who is confused.

"Well, we're here. Over there is Konoha and we're right in time for the festival," Samaia says smiling. She grabs my hand and runs to the village entrance. "Festival?"


	5. Welcome Part 1

**_Chapter 5a._**

**_Welcome._**

* * *

**We walk under a giant gate with a strange sign on top of it. **It's the exact same sign which is engraved on Samaia's headband. It's Konoha's signature sign, or so Samaia told me. She told me a lot about the city and about what I could expect, but I'm still astonished when I see the city for the first time from the inside. It looks like quite the modern city, but without cars or motorbikes or even asphalt. Every house is decorated and above the streets hang rows of lampions. Little children in colourful kimono's -at least I believe they wear kimono's, but I can't say for sure- are running through the streets while adults are chatting with each other. "Come on, Ralf. We need to change your clothes," Samaia suddenly says while she pulls me through the crowd to what seems to be a shop. "What for?" I ask disorientated. I look at my clothes, not understanding what she means. A pair of G-star jeans, Nike sport shoes and a Giorgio Armani T-shirt from the latest collection, what exactly is wrong with that? Of course, in this town, I'll probably stand out a bit because of these regular clothes.

"Geez. You want to become a ninja, right?" Samaia asks, slightly irritated while she pulls me into the store. I nod.

"You want to blend in with the others here, right?"

I nod again.

"Well, it's decided then. I'm gonna give you a whole new ninja outfit so you can blend in with the others around here."

Samaia is completely in her element when she starts looking for clothes in the clothing racks. I just observe her, I recognize something of the Samaia I once used to know, which makes me smile in happiness. 'My sweet Samaia.'

* * *

**"Hmm… you know Ralf. I'm getting the feeling that you don't feel all that comfortable in these clothes, do you?"** Samaia says, while she looks closely at me. "Neh… they're fine. I'll get used to them soon enough," I say to assure her she has done a good job. I look at myself in the mirror and observe what I'm wearing. It's a complete contradiction to see me myself this way. I wear black ninja trousers, one's that are commonly worn by young ninjas because they're wide and don't come all the way to the ankles.

Samaia also bound white bandages around my feet, ankles and calves, 'to protect them from sharp object' she said. Trust me, if a knife hits me, whether I'm wearing the bandages or not, I will get a cut. I tried to stop Samaia from binding them around me, but she wouldn't listen, however now that I look at myself in the mirror, I have to admit that it actually looks kind of cool.

I also wear normal black ninja boots and quite a normal dark blue T-shirt. The T-shirt is kind of wide, has two different sleeves –one short and one long– and is tied to my body with bandages around my belly and around the ends of the sleeves. One of the bandages is tied around my wrist and the other one around my left upper arm.

I have to admit to myself that these are not the most stylish clothes in the world, but they're comfortable. It's made of breathable fabric, but is they're still very strong. "So, we're done?" Samaia asks. I nod. "Yes, let's go. How much are these clothes anyway?" I'm not intending to take these clothes without paying for them. I may be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but my parents have raised me decent and taught me never to steal. So going without paying is not an option.

"What do you mean, silly? These clothes are part of my special surprise for you," my girlfriend says with a mysterious voice and an even more mysterious smile. "Huh?" I really don't get what's going on here…

Samaia has grabbed my hand again and drags me after her. Though this time she drags me out of the shop, instead of into it. "Come on Ralf! This is going to be so much fu! This is THE festival of the entire year," Samaia says, sounding overexcited. "Festival?" I ask, once again confused. "Yes. We hold a festival once a year to celebrate all the missions we've accomplished and to honour those we lost during a mission," Samaia explains. Not that it really explains anything to me; it just makes things more complicated. I know so little of this place.

"Honour those who have died? … Samaia hold on!" I say. I stop walking after her and I take my hand back. "What's wrong Ralf?" she asks. "Samaia listen. I… I can't participate in this…"

"Why not!" Samaia asks, cutting me off in the middle of my sentence. "Please Samaia, let me finish. I don't belong here. This is a festival to honour your fallen comrades and to celebrate the village, but I'm just an outside. Participating would be… … disrespectful," I say. Samaia stays silent for a few moments. Maybe she's realising I don't belong here and that this is wrong. I hope she does, 'cause this really gives my a bad feeling. "Oh Ralf," she then says giggeling and she kisses me on the cheek. "Samaia, I'm serious!" I say, trying to make her understand how important this is.

"Don't worry, Ralf. _Everyone is invited, this is how we live,_" Samaia says and she takes my hand once again. "Really?" I ask, still not sure about this. We go on walking towards the centre of the village. "Really. After all, _we're all here for each other, happy to give. All we have we share._"

We're near the centre of the village now. I can smell the scent of food and the noise of a market. "But I don't know anyone," I say, still trying to get away with this. I don't get why I don't want this. It should be fun, a festival. So what's wrong with me? "_And all of us, we care. So come on!_" We arrive at the village centre and I'm astonished by what I see.

_*Welcome to our family time.  
Welcome to our brotherly time.  
We're happy,  
giving and taking  
to the friends we're making.  
There is nothing we won't do.*_

I see a colourful decorated village centre, with little stands where the merchants sell kinds of Japanese food, Japanese snacks and all kinds of Japanese gadgets. There are street performers who entertain the crowd with their acts and groups of people stand scattered everywhere, talking and laughing with each other. Some people are dressed in kimono's and other Japanese clothes, while others are dressed in normal clothes… … at least. I think these are the type of clothes they wear around here in normal situations.

"This is awesome," I say while Samaia drags me along the stands and street performers. "_Welcome to our family time, _Ralf. _Welcome to our happy to be time. This is our festival. You shall know best of all, we're here to share it all,_" Samaia says to me. I smile at her. "It's great. I can't wait to meet your friend," I tell her. I really want to meet them, because I'm starting to wonder what kind of teenagers they are. They are ninjas after all, would that fact affects their behaviour?

"Yeah. I can't wait to see them again too, 'cause you know._ There's a bond between us, no one can explain._"

_*It's a celebration of life  
and seeing friends again.  
I'll be there for you,  
I know you'll be there for me too.*_

"HEY SAMAIA! Over here!" someone yells to us. We turn around and see two teenagers running towards us. "Naruto! Sakura!" Samaia screams, her voice sounding full of joy. Now, where did I hear those names before? Wait…

»_"Naruto! Where are you?"_«  
»_"Oh. Hey Sakura. I just bumped into someone. Sorry."_«

"You're the boy I bumped into when I was at Samaia's!" I say astonished while pointing my finger at the approaching boy. "Hey Samaia, who is this boy?" the blond boy asks when he and the girl have reached us. "You don't remember me? I'm the one you crashed into when you were at Samaia's house two weeks ago!" I say, hoping that will refresh this boys memory. The boy frowns like he's thinking very hard.

"Nope, doesn't ring a bell at all," he then says after a few seconds. "WHAT?" I'm getting pissed off by this guy. Samaia just laughs. "Sakura, Naruto. This is Ralf, my boyfriend from the States," she says to introduce me when she has finally stopped her laughing. I regain myself and become my normal cool self again and say: "Yo."

It's my own way to greet people I'm introduced to. Not everyone likes that –it's the sole reason Mrs. Lambrouch didn't like me from the start– and I never know how it'll work out, but still… "Nice to meet you, Ralf. My name is Sakura," the girl with pink hair says and she sticks out her right hand. "I'm Ralf, nice to meet you too," I say and I shake the outstretched hand.

"And I am Naruto. And I'm going to be the next and greatest Hokage of all times!" the boy announces with a loud voice. "Yeah… nice to meet you to. I guess." The girl with the pink hair, Sakura was her name I belief –oh man. I suck with names–, sighs deeply and whispers: "Idiot." The boy, Naruto –that's one name I'll never forget. The name of the biggest idiot in the world–, grins broadly and self-satisfied. "Samaia, what the hell is a Hokage?" I whisper to my girlfriend. "The Hokage is the leader of the village and also its strongest ninja. You see the five faces engraved in the mountain behind the village?" Samaia asks while pointing to the mountain behind the village centre. "Yes. What about it?" I ask, still whispering, while looking at the faces.

"Those are the faces of the five Hokage's who have ruled over our village up to now. The last one, the woman, is the current Hokage. Her name is Lady Tsunade," Samaia explains. "Cool."

"Oi! Samaia! Ralf!" Naruto yells. We look up. Apparently they have stopped arguing witch each other. "What's wrong Naruto?" Samaia asks. "We still have to pick up Sasuke from the hospital. He's finally dismissed from it and he's going to participate in the festival. _So come on!_"

* * *

**This chapter is written based on the lyrics of the song: 'Welcome' from Blind Boys Of Alabama with Phil Collins for the movie: 'Brother bear'  
I don't own the music. All the text which is written in italic is part of the lyrics of the song.**


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